On Dragon's Wings
by TheFanFictionAlchemist
Summary: Tsubasa/Pern cross-over AU. K'rogane and Fai are bronze and green riders at Bended Weyr. This is a colection of stories centered around them. Reposted to be seperate from Sweet Dreams,as I intend to make this long.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **None of this is mine, it all belongs to either the lovely ladies of CLAMP, or the amazingly talented Anne McCaffrey.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** I did a lot of fact checking for this with my well loved (complete with annotations in the form of my own notes in the margins) copy of 'The Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern', the official McCaffrey site, and my copies of various books. Set in the 9nth pass, Benden Weyr, pre the discovery of AIVAS. To anyone who has no clue what I'm talking about, yet desperately needs to read this Pern/Tsubasa cross over thing, I'll try and give a crash course in Pern here (any inaccuracies are, of course, my own):

Pern has two main groups of people, Holders (normal folk), and Dragon Riders (those who have impressed-bonded- with a dragon). Dragons and riders live in Weyrs. There are five main types of dragons: Golds, egg laying females with female riders; Bronzes, males with male riders who mate with Golds or Greens; Browns and Blues, males with male riders who mate with Greens; Greens, females with male riders (generally) who are sterile. Sine the riders of Dragons are involved, to put it gently, when the dragons mate, and Blue, Brown, Bronze and Green riders are male…you can hopefully fill in the blanks. Dragons exist to sear thread from the sky with their fire breath; thread are nasty things that destroy all organic life and fall from the red star during passes. Anything else you need to know, you can Google.

* * *

The huge form of a green dragon sat upon the edge of the ledge in her weyr, gratefully soaking in the morning sun to combat the slightly crisp spring air. Her rider sat nearby, enjoying the morning light with her, tuning absently on his slightly worn, but still of a superior quality, guitar. It was spring, and a rest day, with no thread due and nothing to be done in the weyr, so it was reasonable to assume that Benden Hold would likely have a gather. It was a pleasant prospect, the first gather of the season if it occurred, and quite welcome after the extremely cold winter they'd had that year. The blond rider ceased his tuning, picking up a lively little tune, and begging to sing along:

_"Gather! Gather! It's Gather day!_

_No work for us and Thread's away._

_Stalls are building, square's swept clear,_

_Gather all from far and near._

_Bring your marks, and bring your wares,_

_Bring your family for there's_

_Food and drink and fun and song"_

_Ginryuth comes,_ the dragon, Mokonath, suddenly said, a pleased tone radiating from her, which was rapidly replaced with amusement, _He says that K'rogane is angry._

_"The Hold flag flies: so gather along!_

"Kuro-gruff is always angry," Fai muttered, and hardly stirred from deftly plucking the interment. He alternated his fingering, picking up the well known and oft-played tune of the fire lizard song, one of his very favorites.

If Mokonath became slightly fidgety then, her weyrmate forgave her; she was a young dragon yet, and K'rogane and Ginryuth had been away on search; it was understandable that she might have missed her mate. Fai himself ought to have been with the wing, but a mild threadscore had temporarily grounded Mokonath, thought she was now almost entirely healed after a few days. Fai soon caught sight of the glint of the sun off the bronze hide of Ginryuth as he spiraled lazily down over the weyr bowl, toward the ledge of their shared weyr, on an air current. The green swiftly raised her great serpentine neck and sounded a high note of greeting to her mate. The bronze beast trumpeted an answer, as he alighted on the ledge with a great sweep of his vast pinions.

After obediently extended his foreleg, allowing his rider to dismount, Ginryuth settled his immense form next to his diminutive mate's, by comparison, body to sunbath. K'rogane, on the other hand, did not seem as peaceful as his weyrmate, as he stalked toward the table where they commonly took their meals, leaving a trail of assorted artifacts of his riding gear on the floor behind him as he removed them. The bronze's great eye remained open, swirling in slight agitation and concern due to his rider's mental sate.

"You be quiet!" K'rogane snapped, seemingly in response to some comment from Ginryuth that went unheard by Fai.

"Kuro-buff," Fai set down his guitar and approached his partner slowly, "What's the matter?"

K'rogane ignored the other man, approaching the shaft that went down to the kitchen and bellowing for klah and food, then slumping down in exhaustion and exasperation in one of the chairs by their table. Fai settled into the chair next to his, saying cheerfully that he and Mokonath had only just woken, and though he had dressed, he'd not yet breakfasted, so he would join Kurogane. It was not an entirely true statement; however, he thought it the best way to divulge information from K'rogane.

"Did you not breakfast at the hold? "Fai asked.

"I ate lightly," the curt reply came.

"And the search how was it; did it produce any likely prospects?" Fai prompted.

"Fine," K'rogane got up to retrieve the tray that had appeared in the service shaft. He placed it harshly upon the table top, shaking the pitcher of klah and the tray's other contents. Fai poured K'rogane and himself mugs of the hot klah and plucked a readfruit off the tray. K'rogane never ate the sweet-tangy fruits, as he had an avid dislike of anything sweet. Fai on the other hand loved them, and he bit into the flesh with relish.

"Fine?" Fai continued, raising his brow with skepticism. He was the one known for being indirect, for stalling or lying, for hiding his emotions behind smiles. It had actually made him quite a legendary opponent at Dragon Poker, his apparently guileless smiles lulling other players into thinking him an easy victory; that is until they worked out his game, and even then he was still formidable due to his acute control of his emotions. The irony of him forcibly pulling information out of K'rogane struck him sharply.

"We found a few likely lads, in the cot holds, and a girl," Kurogane paused, sipping the steaming klah, "for the queen."

Fai instinctively sensed the slight difference in tone when he spoke of the girl. "Do you think she's a chance at impression?"

"Seems likely," the other replied.

"And…"

"And nothing!" K'rogane snapped grabbing a piece of bread off the tray and biting into it, hoping that might stop Fai in questioning. It did not.

"Come on, Kuro-wher!" Fai said in vexation, "You know I can read you better than that!"

K'rogane fingered him with a harsh stare, which Fai matched in intensity. They remained this way a minute, in silence, K'rogane finally breaking it to say "Her name is Mesilla, and she's an impudent little wherry-hen."

Fai broke into a fit of laughter at the serious expression worn by the other rider, and the fact he'd used the same words to describe Fai on occasion. The glare which K'rogane wore could only be described as one of death.

"So, she managed to get on Kuro-canine's bad side, hmm?" Fai chuckled, after he'd regained some of his composure. "Sounds enchanting, I must meet her!"

The dark haired rider grumbled in agitation, continuing all the while to eat his breakfast. "She's some cot holder's daughter, who has delusions of being the daughter of Lord Raid himself! Practically announced herself to use, in a way that very obviously said she wanted to be considered as a candidate. No, as if she already was as the new queen's ride! Then one of the blue riders had to go and tell her she had potential."

"Which?" Fai interrupted, curious to know who had succeeded in annoying K'rogane so. He was also developing a suspicion that K'rogane's light breakfast had been intimately connected with his lack of desire to spend time with this Mesilla.

"S'dar."

"S'dar? He's good at finding potential, as I understand it."

"Tch, yeah, and not for much else, the dim-glow, unfortunately, the cot holds produced no better than that sorry wherry, so we had to deal with her preening about how she is so sure she'll succeed!"

K'rogane nearly growled the last statement, and settled into glaring at the klah pitcher, as if it were the source of all his sufferings. Fai quickly decided he would have no more of that, and endeavored to pull the bronze rider's mind away from such unpleasant subjects.

"Did you happen to see it the gather flag is flying?"

"It's a warm rest day in the spring, of course it is!" K'rogane countered sourly.

"Well, come on, Kuro-pup; let's put all that behind us. There's a gather on today at Benden, and so I think we should make our way to the hold for the festivities," Fai rose briskly from his seat.

"I hate gathers," the other gruffly intoned, sipping what was left of his klah and making not a move to rise from the table.

"No one hates gathers!" the lithe man grinned exaggeratedly at the absurdity of the statement, "Now come on, let's get ready. I want to have a look at the tanner's stalls, and possibly look into a good bottle of Benden red."

K'rogane made no comment about his feelings on mixing Fai with Benden wine, something that nearly always resulted in disaster, and instead stood grudgingly, "Can't you just go alone?"

"Alone!" his companion appeared utterly stricken, "Who knows the sort of riff-raff a gather is going to bring out! You know, S'dar, who we were just talking about, had a two marker lifted right out of his belt pouch at a gather!"

K'rogane rolled his eyes and kept quiet as he realized arguing with Fai was useless and that he was going to the gather one way or another. However, he was truly thinking that knowing that halfwit S'dar, the man had probably just used the mark and forgotten about.

* * *

**END NOTE:** This took ages to write! And I could not find any way to abbreviate Fai's name…it's too short! So forgive me the cannon breach, and any other errors. I tried to write in a somewhat McCaffrey-ish style, and failed at it, miserably.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** None of this is mine, except the random side characters, which don't do much in any case.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** As someone pointed out, I left crafthalls and craftmasters out of my synopsis. This was so I could focus on the dragon riders. Well, here I'm going to have to put in a note on them. Craft halls carry out the various crafts on Pern, Healercraft handles healing, Tannercraft tanning, Weavercraft weaving, and so on. Most of the names are self explanatory. The only craft that I think really need a special note is Harper craft. Harpers are apparently musicians, and they do play music, and sing, and offer training in such. But they also serve many other roles and it perhaps best to say Harpers deal with information. They are teachers to the young, instructing in history, language, reading and so on. They also have the task of turning important historical events into songs and ballads, so that they are recalled by future generations. They are often involved in politics, and even espionage. And, they, with all the major crafts, are very important at gathers.

* * *

Fai twirled the journeyman healer girl enthusiastically about the dance square. This might just be, he reflected wistfully, his favorite part of gathers. The dancing was always marvelous. Or perhaps, it was the wine he liked best, since there was little that could compare with Benden wine. If only K'rogane would actually allow himself to participate in dancing more often, he thought with a sigh, in spite of his pride, he was sure that dancing would outdo wine easily. However, it was his nature, and Fai forgave him for it, after all, it was not as though there were a lack of able willing partners at a gather, such as this flushed, smiling redhead. He had picked her from the crowd for her pretty looks and pleasant face that he hoped meant that she'd make good company, and she had proved as sweet natured as she'd appeared. Not to mention she had been more than pleased when a dragonman had asked her to dance.

Fai realized as the harpers played the final notes of their tune and the dancers ceased their revolutions around the square, that by the end of this, their third dance, he was as flushed as she, and panting at the exertion. Whatever K'rogane said about personal pride, this was most certainly an exhausting and superb form of exercise.

"Fancy a glass of wine? I've a decent white," Fai asked the young woman, Hallina, giving her an enthusiastic grin.

"Oh, thank you! I'm parched," she answered him, fanning her face for a slight dramatic emphasis.

_Do you think K'rogane will like that?_ Mokonath queried.

_Well, he can get over it, if he does mind. He hardly ever dances at gathers._

_It bothers you a lot,_ the green observed.

Fai nearly snorted a contradictory chuckle, _Kuro-mine never dances!_

He felt the dragon rumble slightly, disliking the evasion in his tone._ That does not,_ she added, _mean that it does not bother you._

_You're far too perceptive, aren't you dear?_ Fai chuckled, still unused to the fact his every thought was known to the dragon, even after two turns of partnership. _Is it too cold for you on the heights, now that it's dark?_

_The rocks hold the heat from the sun,_ she answered,_ and I have Ginryuth to warm me._

_Then go to sleep, dearest._

All the while, as the exchange had taken place, the green rider had been leading Hallina through the throng, weaving his way back to the table he'd left K'rogane at with the wine. As they approached, he shouted for the other rider, who pointedly ignored him, and his companion.

"Kuro-bronze!" he chided in exasperation as he fetched a seat from a nearby table for Hallina, "You can be a bit more welcoming, when I've brought you such pretty and charming company!"

K'rogane simply scowled, glancing upward at the pair, causing Fai to add to Hallina, "He acts like some crotchety old uncle, but he's harmless. And actually, only a few years older than I am."

Fai flirted openly and playfully with all the pretty girls at the gathers, but he was never deceptive. He always made sure they understood he was a green rider, and that he was all that his status entailed. He simply sought pleasing company, given that K'rogane would not oblige, and nothing more. Not to mention, it never hurt to make the man a bit jealous.

"Who're you?" K'rogane stared at Hallina, taking in her appearance. Pretty, yes, but not beautiful; there was something off in the proportions of her nose to the rest of her face. And surely not as charming as Fai claimed she was.

"I am journeyman healer Hallina, bronze rider K'rogane. Fai's told me that you don't much enjoy gathers," she announced politely.

"I hate crowds," K'rogane mumbled, glairing at the woman.

"Do you see what I mean?" Fai gave an exaggerated sigh, making the woman giggle, "this is why I'm forced to seek other company at gathers."

"I can't possibly imagine hating gathers! The dancing is so fun and the clothes you see are lovely," Hallina chattered back, "And it is ever so nice to have time away from duties. Surely even a dragonrider thinks as much."

K'rogane gave her a stare as if to say that the girl had no right to know what a dragonrider might think, and she should know as much.

_Well, _I _like the rest_, Ginryuth commented smugly to him. K'rogane chose to ignore the dragon.

"Hallina!" a voice suddenly called. The tree looked up in time to see a young woman about the age of their guest making her way through the crowd, "Hallina, I thought the dragonriders had stolen you away! Meaning no offence, dragonmen," she inclined her head toward Fai and K'rogane.

"Ah, none at all, I assure you," Fai answered smoothly.

"Is something the matter, Prina?" Hallina asked the woman.

"Oh, no," she said, shaking her head enthusiastically, "it's just, Tremen was asking about you. He wants to dance a set with you. Tremen!"

"Dragonrider, if you would excuse me?" the girl said, courteously inclining her head.

"Ah, it is a shame that I'll be denied your company," Fai sighed, "But do as you must, I'll get by. Good luck with Tremen," he winked conspiratorially.

The girl blushed lightly, betraying her feelings toward whoever Tremen was, before rushing of to join her friend in a flurry of green gather dress. K'rogane was not upset to see her go.

"Kuro-dragon, don't you think you might have been a bit nicer, or at least not so scary?" Fai sipped his wine leisurely.

"Do you think you might have avoided introducing me as 'Kuro-bronze'?" K'rogane countered with much more vehemence.

"Ah, but that's much less frightening, and easier to remember than K'rogane is!"

K'rogane stared at Fai a moment, and then droned sarcastically, "You actually know how to pronounce it?"

Fai smiled brightly and seemed about to give an equally teasing answer, but stopped when the first few notes of the Harpers instruments sounded. It was obvious immediately what the tune was, from the jaunty tempo and excited cheers from the young among the crowd. Fai's own blue eye's practically sparkled with mirth as he recognized it, crying exuberantly, "The toss dance!"

He looked at K'rogane expectantly, as this was his favorite, his very favorite, and the bronze rider knew as much. The other man was pointedly avoiding eye contact with Fai's pleading gaze, starring at his wine glass, dark bangs hiding his eyes.

"Kuro…" the thinner man said, brushing a lock of his blond hair back.

"What?" the bronze rider demanded.

"The dance, silly; you can't have forgotten that it's my favorite. It always has been," the green rider answered. "Please?"

K'rogane heaved an exaggerated sigh, rolling his eyes before rising from his seat and offering his arm to Fai.

The dance itself was quick, favored by the young and agile, as it involved the smaller partner being tossed about. But then, neither K'rogane nor Fai was past twenty-four turns in age, and both were fit from riding such frequent falls. If they were among a minority in being a pair of men, Fai couldn't be concerned, for he was too swept up in the dance itself, and scarcely minded such things anyway. It was hardly shocking, after all, to anyone but close minded holders. K'rogane himself cared little for others' opinions, and could tolerate dances, when required; if only for the lovely look on Fai's face.

_You seem much happier now_, Ginryuth interjected.

_Why aren't you asleep?_ K'rogane asked, annoyance masking a slight concern.

_I was listening; I like the music the harpers play_, the dragon replied, in a contented tone.

_They play well enough,_ I suppose, the man conceded. _You should sleep._

_I am not tired,_ Ginryuth replied.

The dance soon ended, the pair just barely finishing, and both feeling exhausted. They returned to their table, a wide satisfied grin on Fai's face, even K'rogane admitting that it had been enjoyable, if only just. The lithe man grasped his cup, drinking down the reminder of the wine in it, and then reached for the wineskin.

"Thank you, Kuro-love." The other simply responded with an inarticulate grunt, causing Fai to laugh at him. "You are much sweeter than you seem, you know."

Fai chuckled again, when the only response he received was another noncommittal sound.

They did not take long to finish off the rest of the wine, while chatting pleasantly about the gather. Or rather, Fai talked; K'rogane mostly grunted and responded with various monosyllabic answers, as was his character. It did not offend the green rider in the slightest, as he knew this was a serious conversation by K'rogane standards. Towards the end of the wineskin, however, Fai was giggling, and looking rather flushed, as one a bit far gone in drink was apt to. It made sense; he had been drinking most of the evening. Fai reached for the wine again, and found that it was empty, breaking off mid sentence with a frown.

"Oh? We're out of wine!" He said, with overly dramatic surprise. He stood, perhaps a bit unsteadily, declaring "I shall venture forth and retrieve more!"

"Oi, you sure?" K'rogane asked, not sure how far gone Fai was, and not really liking the idea of him wandering about drunk. He had a disconcerting habit of disappearing when he did that.

"I'll be fine, Kuro-Kuro. Surely I can make it to the wine stall and back to my table at a gather! Now, you just wait here, I'll see if I can get a red this time," with that, Fai turned, and slipped into the crowd before K'rogane could raise any further objections. With nothing more to do, he had to simply sit and wait.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I have next to nothing in common with either Anne McCaffrey, or the members of CLAMP, save that I am female, and I was born near where Anne was.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **This is very much dedicated to **crys_tenkari** on lj, though it is really just a piece of self indulgence. I adore Robinton, utterly. But, gah, was this hard to write, I restructured the entire thing twice, rewrote parts, changed tenses…etc. etc. I'd appreciate if you let me know of any errors.

**A Short Glossary of Terms Not Previously Defined:**

**_Between_**_:_ The void which dragons have the ability to enter, allowing them to travel instantly between places, or even times. Reputed to take 'no longer than it takes a man to cough thrice…'

**Fire-lizards:** Small cousins to dragons, they follow the same color patters, but are not nearly as intelligent.

**Klah:** Like coffee, a stimulant drunk by the Pernese. Made from the bark of the klah tree.

**Thread: **In the Pernese solar system, there is a wandering planet which has become trapped in the gravitation pull of Rukbat, the star around which Pern orbits. Called the Red Star, it has an erratic orbit, and is the home (more or less, I'm simplifying here) to creatures that look something like balls of ice, until they try and bridge the gap into Pern's inhabitable atmosphere. When they reach Pern, the ice melts and the creatures start to resemble clumps of spaghetti. If they reach the ground, they will destroy any plant or animal, eating them as food, then burrow into the soil and destroy all plant life from the root. The Red Star's orbit brings it close enough to Pern once every hundred years, and it stays close enough to Pern for fifty years (called a 'pass').

**Watch-wher:** Dragons did not occur naturally; rather they were genetically engineered by the first colonists who came to Pern to escape an overpopulated earth, and memories of the Nathi wars. When the threat of thread was discovered, dragons were made to fight it, bred from the Fire-lizards, who were themselves engineered from the indigenous Dragonettes. Most were happy with the dragons, however, not Wind-Blossom Ping, daughter of Kitti Ping Yung, the creator of the dragons. She attempted to improve on dragons, but failed due to her inferior grasp of genetic manipulation. Instead she created the ugly malformed Watch-whers, who could not stand sunlight and were very vicious to anyone they were unfamiliar with. On modern-day Pern, they are used as watch-dogs by holds.

**Wherry:** A six-limbed (two front legs, two back legs, two wings) avian creature, indigenous to Pern. They are used as a food source, and their skins are used to make leather.

* * *

After nearly fifteen minutes or so of waiting for Fai's return, K'rogane was beginning to get thoroughly annoyed. It clearly did not take so long to find _wine_ at a _gather_, not with all the feasting and drinking that was taking place, and the numerous places to find a wine skine. He then grudgingly rose from his comfortable chair, to search for his weyrmate, lest he get himself lost, or into a brawl with some other drunken oaf.

_You should not be so worried, if Fai were in trouble, Mokonath would know, _Ginryuth said form the heights.

_I'm not worried, _K'rogane answered, keeping his mental tone slightly teasing so as not to upset the dragon with his remarks,_ now, stop making pointless comments._

Seething with anger, K'rogane wandered amid the gather guests, unable to find Fai anywhere among them. He spent another ten minutes, or thereabouts, searching, cursing the man all the while. He was about to call to Ginryuth and ask him to wake Mokonath and have her locate Fai, when he suddenly heard something that sounded very much like the green rider's voice amid the steady noise of conversation. He would not have been so fortunate, save that whatever group the green rider was with decided to break into a loud, slurred version of some northern holder song, and K'rogane recognized Fai's light tenor among the voices.

He followed the sound of the singing to Fai, who was seated with several others at one of the tables, exuberantly adding his voice to the song's chorus. His face was rosy and his eyes shinning, clearly the effects of the alcohol, as he and his tablemates ended the song on a surprisingly harmonic note, given the state they all appeared to be in. He was utterly drunk, and K'rogane was furious, with Fai and with himself for allowing him to wander away in such a state.

"Hello, Kuro-bronze! I want you to meet…" Fai began, noticing the bronze rider.

"Fai, we're leaving. _Now_," K'rogane growled, taking the back of the green rider's shirt collar. Just as he was about to drag Fai away from the gather, whatever it took, amid Fai's protest that he had to meet whoever it was, he was stopped when one of the table's other occupants threw back his head in a loud, baritone guffaw, apparently at the situation before him.

"Sit, sit, sit," the man said in rich, round tones, with a wave of his hand toward the single unoccupied seat at the table, "It's a gather after all, everyone indulges a bit. And Fai has been providing excellent company. I don't think I've heard that song since I was a journeyman." K'rogane sat, glaring at the man, whom he had instantly recognized. After all, anybody, from the most backward mountain cot-hold, or isolated sea-hold would know him, and even K'rogane, who saw no reason to respect a man simply for rank, knew better than to insult the Masterharper of Pern. One might as well insult the Werywoman. What, K'rogane wondered, were the odds that Fai would find this table to sit at, and that he would find himself welcome?

"This is Kuro…Kuro…I can't quite think of anything!" Fai giggled; trying it seemed to give some kind of introduction.

"Dragonrider Kuro-Kuro then!" the other table member said, raising his glass in an evident toast, though to what, K'rogane was unsure. Perhaps, he mused, to the disrespectful mutilation of his name?

"Is he the one you were singing that lovely song about before?" Robinton asked.

"Oh, yes!" a grin spread wide across Fai's face. "Did I sing you the song I wrote, Kuro?" Without waiting for an answer, Fai broke into an almost understandable song about 'Kuro-canine', laughing hysterically the entire time. K'rogane himself groaned, and poured himself a glass of Benden red from the wine skin, thinking that he'd need it in this situation. To make Fai leave now would be an insult to the Harper. To stay was an insult to himself, but he'd learned to bear such things in his year and a half long partnership with the green rider.

Ginryuth had taken that moment to chime in that K'rogane wouldn't make Fai go, because he did not want to upset him. This only fuelled the rider's irritation. He demanded of Fai once he was done with the chorus why he had come here, in his search for drink, the Harpers laughing raucously at the lyrics.

Fai immediately began to offer his explanation. From what K'rogane could understand of the only partially lucid ramblings, when Fai wandered away he had been just as drunk as K'rogane suspected. Perhaps more so, since he decided that instead of going to get wine from a vender, he would wander over to one of the tables, and ask them for a skin. Either by accident or design, that table had been one of the harpers' tables, occupied by the Benden hold Harper, and the Masterharper. He made himself and his search known to the occupants and they, being quite possibly drunk themselves, allowed him to join them. This was an unfortunate choice on the part of the harpers, which had only served to lead directly to the bronze rider's current, thoroughly embarrassing situation, and his severe aggravation toward Fai.

As the conversation progressed around him, K'rogane taking little part in it, he soon discovered Robinton to be just the sort of person he did not like. The man was loud, with a full laugh that came to him easily, likely aided by the wine. He could drink, and did, with many comments to the superiority of Benden wines over Tillek. Fai frequently and vehemently agreed, nodding his head with great fervor at such statements.

After about an hour of drinking, shouting, singing, and K'rogane trying as hard as he might to keep from getting a headache, Fai had gotten bad enough that K'rogane decided, Masterharper be damned, he was going home. He managed, just barely, to pull Fai away from the gather, insisting that it was the middle of the night, and any sensible people should be going home in any case. The harpers waved them off, agreeing that indeed it was late, and shouldn't Robinton be calling on transport soon, and wasn't there any more of that lovely wine?

_Ginryuth?_ He reached out to touch the dragons mind, and found that he was sleeping, finally. No matter, he had to wake him, _Ginryuth!_

_It is dark, and I am tired, _the dragon complained at so suddenly being roused.

_Well, we need to leave, now,_ K'rogane said, _wake Mokonath up, will you?_

Fai got over being forced to leave quickly, and now was singing something, very loudly; K'rogane couldn't quite place what it was. He was beginning to think it might be a strange, one-man rendition of the 'Ballad of Moreta's Ride', though he began to doubt that when the tune suddenly transformed into one that heavily resembled the 'Duty Song'. It really didn't matter what Fai was bellowing, however, what mattered was that he was very drunk, and need to be brought back to the weyr before he seriously embarrassed either himself or K'rogane. Any more than he already had.

"Hurry up," he said, as he all but dragged his weyrmate toward the waiting Ginryuth. Fai suddenly realized where he was being led, and began to struggle, trying to break free from K'rogane's hold on him.

"I ride Mokonath," he slurred, shaking his head, barely intelligible.

"No," K'rogane said flatly, still pulling Fai toward his own dragon, ignoring his inarticulate protests. "You can barely walk."

Fai broke into a generous fit of giggles at K'rogane's statement, his face flushed, a few flyaway strands of blond hair in front of his eyes. He'd need to get that cut soon, K'rogane thought, long hair was dangerous during threadfall.

"What's so funny?" K'rogane demanded, trying to remain patient with the intoxicated man, in spite of his growing annoyance.

"You don't need to stand to fly a dragon!" Fai declared loudly to the night, evidently proud of his drunken logic.

"You _need_ to give clear reference, which I don't think you're capable of right now. So shut up." The blond man prattled something about ridding Mokonath again as K'rogane heaved his skinny form onto Ginryuth's back.

_Mokonath is worried, _Ginryuth said _she wishes to know if Fai is sick. He will not answer her clearly. _

_Tell he isn't sick now…but he will be tomorrow. _

There was a pause, before the dragon continued, _You are worried about Fai?_

_Worried, _K'rogane scoffed, _why would I be worried about the idiot? He got himself drunk. Now take us back to Benden. I'm tired. And be sure to tell Mokonath to follow. _

_I have,_ and with that, the dragon launched into a take off, the sweep of his great bronze wings causing clouds of dust to form about them. When they were high enough, K'rogane gave the familiar reference to Benden Weyr, being careful to imagine the bowl clearly. He was not actually sober himself, but he never let himself get as far gone as Fai was when he was away from the weyr. Bad reference points could lose both dragon and rider in the void of _between, _and he was determined for his part not to become a casualty.

As the cold blackness of _between _engulfed them, K'rogane went back over the day's events, wondering when it had all gone so wrong. Why had he ever let Fai go off on his own like that? He knew such things never ended particularly well.

The bronze dragon blinked out of between over Bended Weyr, Mokonath appearing in the same moment. He flew lazily to the ledge, alighting, and stretching out his foreleg to allow his passengers to dismount. K'rogane jumped down first, Fai following after, half sliding, half falling down the dragon's side. He stumbled when he reached the ground, and if K'rogane had not been there to catch him, he would surely have fallen. He supported him as they began to make their way into their sleeping chambers.

"Kuro-bronze…"

"What," K'rogane demanded as he nearly carried him towards the bed.

"Kuro-bronze…" the man repeated.

"What!"

"I'm a green rider, you're a bronze rider…" he trailed off.

"So?" K'rogane wasn't going to let him make a comment like that without elaborating on it. Fai was insecure, however he came off to others, K'rogane knew as much. When he was intoxicated he just tended to be a bit more open. They reached the bed, and K'rogane helped Fai to pull of his boots and his riding gear, since the man seemed completely incapable of it on his own.

"Bronzes fly Queens," Fai answered, as if that explained his previous statement entirely. Though in this case, it did, as K'rogane had heard this particular statement from Fai enough times to know where it was leading. He sighed in exasperation as he pulled off his boots, trying to keep it in mind that Fai was drunk, and he could not be too hard on him. Though, honestly, if he were bringing this up again it meant he wasn't truly reconciled to the fact K'rogane wasn't going anywhere, it meant he still suffered from the same insecurities.

"Yes, some of them do, and _what _does that have to do with anything?" K'rogane growled, although, not too harshly.

"Kuro-canine deserves to be a queen's weyrmate" he left the rest of the sentence unsaid; thought K'rogane knew where it had been headed. _You deserve better than me, _Fai meant.

Hoping that Fai would understand how serious he was about this, and perhaps get thought to him past the fog of alcohol, K'rogane said, "Do you see any Queens in this weyr without mates, idiot?" He didn't receive any answer after a few moments. "Hey."

He looked at Fai, and found him already face down and fast asleep. He sighed, laying down and pulling the sleeping furs around both of them, then closing his own eyes.


End file.
